Top tips for juicing

Seasonal fruit and succulent veg, zingy citrus, fresh herbs and spices… our new organic juicing box is brimming with all you need to make at least 3 litres of organic juice. With such a rainbow of squeezable things at your fingertips, the possible mixes are endless.

Here is our chefs’ guide to juicing, to help you make the most of all that good stuff.

Getting started
If you’re completely new to juicing, start by squeezing a few things separately then mixing, rather than trying to judge a harmonious blend straight into the glass. This also lets you taste the individual flavours; you can’t rely on vegetables’ cooked taste as a strict frame of reference for their juice.

Mixology
The key to a good blend is well balanced flavours. Start with the premise that what works well on the plate – beetroot and orange, apple and celery, cucumber and mint – will also work in the glass, and build from there using this flavour guide.

Mild
Mild ingredients such as apple, celery, cucumber, courgette, lettuce and melon form the base of your juice. They tend to yield large amounts of liquid, and act as a carrier for brasher flavours.

Sweet
Most people’s favourite flavour, found in most fruits and some veg (e.g. parsnips and carrots). Don’t be tempted to go too sweet; it’s much more satisfying when tempered with other, more complex flavours.

Bitter
Bitter veg such as dark leaves and brassicas definitely taste like they’re doing you good, but needn’t be taken as punishment. Combine with something sharp or sweet to round off their harsher edges.

Sharp
A hint of something sharp can do wonders to pep up a juice. Too much will make you wince, but a well-judged squeeze of lemon or lime is a good foil for excessive sweetness or bitterness.

Earthy
A deep, sturdy flavour found in most roots, especially carrots and beetroots. The right complementary flavours can really make it sing – try beetroot and orange, or carrot, apple and ginger.

Aromatic
Fresh greens herbs and spices, such as mint, parsley, turmeric and ginger, can be very dominating. Use cautiously, as a garnish to your juice.

It’s not just about flavour…Yield
As well as a good flavour, you need enough liquid to make a decent drink. Some things yield a small amount of strong-tasting juice (e.g. kale, parsnips); others produce a larger volume with a milder flavour (e.g. cucumber, lettuce, melon). Try to choose at least one high-yielding ingredient.

Colour conscious
A photogenic juice is not your main aim, but it is worth remembering you colour charts from primary school. If you’re aiming for a certain hue, try to keep things in roughly the same spectrum. If all goes brown and murky, just add beetroot.

Thicken it up
Bananas and avocados are far too soft and mushy to juice; blend them into your juice instead.

Practical tips
Whatever the blend, these hints will come in handy.

As we are organic, there’s no worry of chemicals or wax on the skins, so most things can be juiced without peeling. Just take off any strong-tasting peel (e.g. citrus), or very tough skins that might challenge your juicer (e.g. melon or pineapple).

Don’t forget to taste, tweak, and taste again, just as you would when cooking.

Finish with a high-yielding ingredient (e.g. cucumber) to wash through any trapped flavours.

Depending on the oomph of your juicer, it may be worth re-juicing the pulp to see if you can extract a few last drops.

Drink your juice as soon as possible. It will last up to 2 days in the fridge, but starts to oxidise and lose nutritional value quickly.

Compost your pulp. You could plant some veg in the results and juice that, too; a perfect circle.

Get juicing!
We hope these tips inspire you to become a mad juice scientist, creating your own colourful concoctions. Also try chef Bob’s juicing recipes, updated every week to reflect what’s in the box.

3 responses to “Top tips for juicing”

I’m enjoying smoothies myself. With a Smoothie Maker everything is used and a thicker glassful is produced. There is no pulp to consider, you will drink/eat that too and it’s good for you. Could you company consider making a box specifically for this? You could add yogurt and bananas as standard for non vegans. Apparently nut-butters and rolled oats also work well in a smoothie, but I have not tried them yet. You can get breakfast in a glass!

Hi I do compost the pulp, but as I juice the cucumbers last I add the pulp to my smoothie! I juice all my veg including a whole lemon with the skin , and a lime,but this one without the skin ( somehow the skin seems to clog the juicer!!!!).
I do not add any fruit. ( Too sweet! and I want to avoid sugar!) The basic ingredients are always, ginger, celery, spinach and cucumber, plus parsley and mint and kale if I can get it. I then add a bit of fennel and any green veg I may have. The lemon is very important as the juice will be very bland otherwise. I drink half the juice neat then add the rest to my blender with an avocado, the left over cucumber pulp, plus a bit more celery, cucumber,spinach and kale, mint and parsley and fresh turmeric. and celtic salt ( again very important to avoid a bland tasting smoothie! This way I feel I get all the vitamins and minerals, and the fiber I need. the thing is to experiment until you have the right combination and taste!